On Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders took to Twitter to deliver one of his usual messages. People go to the doctor because they're sick. Get a diagnosis from their doctor, but they can't afford the treatment. He wrote, how crazy is that? So I responded snarkly. I go to a fancy store to check out a piece of furniture and I can't afford it. Totally crazy. This, of course, prompted spasms of apoplexy on the left. How could I dare to

compare medical care to furniture? Was I equating the two? Was I suggesting that the necessity

of furniture was somehow comparable to the necessity of medical care? Of course not, because that

would be stupid. I was pointing out that medical care is a commodity, and that in life, we are

often faced with commodities we cannot afford. But this mere observation caused a ruckus on the left. Necessities don't

compare luxuries, said one angry tweeter. Bless characters like Ben Shapiro for demonstrating

the complete soullessness of capitalist ideology tweeted another. The idea here seems to be

that unless you declare medical care a right rather than a commodity, you're soulless.

That as Marx might put it, necessity rather than autonomy, creates rights.

This is foolish, both morally and practically.

Morally, you have no right to demand medical care of me.

I may recognize your necessity, I may offer charity.

My friends and I may choose to band together and fund your medical care, but your necessity does not change the basic math. Medical care is a service and a good provided by a third

party. No matter how much I need bread, I do not have a right to steal your wallet or hold up the

local bakery to obtain it. Theft may end up being the least immoral choice under the

circumstances that doesn't make it a moral choice or suggest that I have

not violated your rights in pursuing my own needs. But the left thinks that declaring necessity's

rights somehow overcomes the individual rights of others. If you're sick, you now have the right to

demand that my wife, who is a doctor, care for you. Is there any limit to this right? Do you have

the right to demand that the medical system provide lifesaving care forever to the tunes of millions of dollars of other people's

taxpayer dollars or services? How exactly can there be such a right without the government

rationing care or using compulsion to force individuals to provide it or confiscating mass

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